Search This Blog

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Flying with a personal best

I ran the Inaugural Savannah Publix women's half marathon. Prior to this race I told anyone who would listen willingly and unwillingly that I was going to set a personal record (PR). I think most people were getting tired of me saying that but I had to say out loud to make it real. To make it an honest goal. A real life goal that lived outside of my head.

The bonus was that my friend of many years Helen was running it as well. She promised to run with me. When I told her that running it at 2 hours and 19 minutes would be a personal record for me she simply said, "We can do that." She had not run with me in at least a year and the last race she ran with me was a very long time ago in Myrtle Beach and I may have run in the 2 hour 30 minute range. Maybe.

Boris, my Savannah running partner told me that I should be able to run at least a 2 hour 15 minute race. But he said that last year and I ran a 2 hour 26 minute race. I died at mile 10 because I started out way too fast. That is my nemesis in every race.

This time I ran with a strategy. I would start out slower. We got in the 2 hour 20 minute pace group. That kept us from starting out too fast. We almost got ahead of the group a few times, but we held back. And then around mile 5 we moved on. Helen kept track of our time at every mile. I used to hate that, but realized the necessity and paid attention.

In the end I ran a 2 hour 14 minute and 33 second half. That is my fastest half marathon EVER. Yes, EVER. And I wasn't even tired. I will admit that the last two miles were tough. They were tough because that is the place it always gets tough for me. I must get mental. Hey, it is what it is.

It was a wonderful journey. I thanked Helen first of all, everyone who ran at 4am with me, Boris who listened to to me whine about speed work, and everyone else. Running is a solo event, but it takes many to help reach a goal.